Peace on Earth to Librarians of Good Will

The great thing about fall is how fast my favorite holidays come. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, all in two months. Tis’ truly the season to be jolly.

There were a number of topics I thought about addressing, but Christmas Eve Eve hardly seems the time to be annoyed. For example, I considered writing about a reference to the AL where a blogger claims the AL is "irrelevant" and can’t believe LJ would host the blog just for page views. It seems slightly contradictory to believe a blog has a high readership and is also irrelevant, but what could be more irrelevant these days than an AL-hater. Get over yourselves already.

I also considered writing about the Christmas tree made out of National Union Catalog volumes at the Loyola Marymount University Library and Christmas decorations in libraries generally. That seemed a cheery decoration to me, and a good use of a classic but increasingly irrelevant reference source. Does anyone use the NUC anymore? As a Catholic university, LMU is exempt from the anti-religion hysteria that sometimes pops up in isolated places this time of year. A public library might not have been able to get away with that. Maybe one should try. Most public libraries don’t have the NUC, but they could always use old volumes of the Reader’s Guide.

There are also librarians who need some good cheer this season. Some of us will be roasting chestnuts on an open fire and exchanging gifts, and others of us are under- or unemployed, stretching dollars in a tight economy. One librarian who needs a lot of cheer is this Houston librarian, who, as the headline says, was "brutally beaten by an unruly patron" a week ago. The patron was so loud and belligerent that after gently shushing him the librarian asked him to leave. His response was to knock her down and start jumping on her. I thought of the librarians who don’t think libraries should be quiet spaces for reading and reflection, and wondered what they would think about that incident. Librarians already have to be information specialists and social workers and babysitters; maybe now they have to be bouncers, too.

But instead I write to wish you…wait, what do I wish you? Is it "Happy Holiday" "Merry Christmas"? How about "Merry Christmas Day"? Despite the separation of church and state, I never see any groups suing the government to make sure we have to go to work on Christmas Day, just like any other day, so I’m assuming most of you are off the next couple of days. Either way, your day should be merry, and reading blogs should be low on your list. So Merry Christmas Day, and peace on earth to librarians of good will.

Wow, that Houston librarian is having a bad holiday season. I had not heard about this until reading about it here. Some people are just crazy, and those of us who work in public service, retail, or any type of a job that puts us into contact with the public, have to deal with them. Usually, the crazy people I deal with are not as crazy as this guy, though. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Houston librarian!

As awful as the attack on the librarian was, it was heartening to read that ‘six men football rushed the guy and held him down until police arrived.’ I wouldn’t wonder when the day will come that all public libraries will have to have armed guards. I’ve been cussed out, insulted, and made fun of, but so far I’ve avoid physical confrontation. That poor librarian will never feel safe again and she sure won’t be going up to anyone and telling them to be quiet. Sickening.

I guess I’ll have to be annoyed about the holidays since AL won’t be. But I really do hate the holidays, so it’s not like I’m doing this for no reason. A computer science professor at my alma mater loves the Grinch…but only before the “happy ending” ruins the story. As the years have gone by, I’ve become more and more inclined to agree.

It’s news that we (librarians) may have to act as bouncers? My colleagues and I spend half our time doing that stuff, and we mostly have an armed police officer as well. On the upside, we also have Christmas trees every year and no one complains.